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AIB denies fresh charges of mis-selling

AIB BANK faced two fresh charges last night of sharp practices including mis-selling products to elderly clients causing them to lose thousands of euros.

Ireland’s largest bank is alleged to have failed adequately to warn some elderly customers four years ago of the risk of moving from cash deposits to investment policies. The stock market slump in 2001 saw the value of many of these investments plummet.

The bank last night denied it had acted improperly, pointing out that higher returns generally came with higher risk. The Consumers’ Association of Ireland, however, has reported several instances of alleged mis-selling to the IFSRA, the financial services watchdog.

The second new allegation is that some of the bank’s branches are charging double commission to customers purchasing dollar drafts using dollars. An AIB branch last week forced a newspaper reporter to convert dollars to euros before allowing him get a dollar draft. The